KENNETT — One of Ray Eldreth’s most vivid memories on the job as superintendent at the Union Hill Cemetery is the winter of 1994, when the ice was so deep and the ground was so hard that it was tough to get the holes dug for graves.

He recalled:

“There was a woman, I think her name was Gladys Hamilton, had passed away. We had two feet of frost and ice. It kept freezing and building up everyday, so we had to put off burying her for a month.

“Kuzo (the funeral director) had to put her (body) in storage for a month. They have facilities for that,” he said.

That winter, when they did dig graves, the ground was so hard that they had to break through the ice with jackhammers before calling in backhoes to complete the job.

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Eldreth admitted the jackhammers were quite noisy, but perhaps not enough to raise the dead.

Eldreth, 74, has been working there as the cemetery superintendent for 26 years and has seen a lot of funerals in his time, along with rabbits, squirrels, foxes and a few coyotes. Never any ghosts, though.

“I wouldn’t be there if I had,” he said.

On Thursday, he and his brother Roger were honored by the 16-member cemetery board at the Kennett Inn on the occasion of their retirements.

Roger, 76, began work there at age 16 in 1952 for a total of 60 years. He was as unable to attend the ceremony because of illness.

Between the two of them, they’ve put in 86 years at Union Hill, which was founded in 1869.

But that’s not all.

Their father, the late Lester Eldreth, started as superintendent in 1948 and was there until 1986 for a total of 38 years.

That’s 124 years the family has been overseeing the burials of the deceased in the Kennett Square area.

Board members congratulated them and praised them for serving the public “for so many years working in extreme heat, subzero temperatures, drenching rain storms, blizzard conditions and high winds, getting the job done with no complaints.”

In those years, the pair has seen plenty of funerals, sometimes, four in one day.

Ray Eldreth said the days go on, one after another, with not too much change. They rarely if ever have any parking problems, he can’t remember any fiasco funerals, and there has been only a little vandalism.

Asked if he had been witness to any famous funerals, he said he was there for the burial of baseball great Eddie Collins as well as actress Linda Darnell.

Baseball Hall of Famer Herb Pennock is also buried in Union Hill, but Ray Eldreth said it was before his time.

He remembers another person, unnamed, whose family was dissatisfied with the location of their loved one’s grave, and they had to re-bury the person three times. She finally ended up at Longwood Cemetery, Ray Eldreth said.

Many people associated with the Kennett Square District speak often about Mary D. Lang, for whom the school is named. They say she was buried at Union Hill.

But Ray Eldreth said he is unfamiliar with her grave, and, in fact, he has never been asked that question before.

In addition to digging the graves and filling in the holes, the cemetery workers are responsible for keeping the grounds in shape.

Ray Eldreth said during the spring and summer they have to mow the grass every day, “Otherwise it gets ahead of you.”

Over the years, equipment has changed, he said.

“A few years back, we had to dig the graves by hand,” he said. Now they have the services of Dick Pratt and his backhoe.

(Pratt, who sat down the table from Eldreth at the banquet, mentioned that his great, great, great uncle was the first person buried at Union Hill.)

Trimming is quite a chore, too. “Back before we had weed-eaters, you had to use electric trimmers,” he added.

The preferences for services have changed a bit, too, with increasing numbers of people choosing cremations, “Because funerals have become expensive,” he said.

The brothers have consumed a lot of coffee through the years, working out of a large shed on the north end of the property.

Ray Eldreth said there used to be a small chapel in that location, so people could have the service and move the body quickly to the burial site.

“It got struck by lightning and burned down, and they replaced it with the shop,” he said.

That shop has a few stories to tell as well. “The Johnston gang stole a lot of our equipment twice. One time they took a took a tractor that was only a week old,” Ray Eldreth said.

Another change that has come about in the last 30 years is that the cemetery no longer has segregated sections with blacks in one place and whites in another. “Now everybody’s buried together,” he said.

The Eldreth brothers are being replaced by Ricky Roberts, who will be the new superintendent. He said he has experience with tree work, and his aunt, Prissy Roberts, is on the board.

The president of the cemetery board is John Pusey, and the chairman of a coming expansion project is Damon Sinclair.

Many of the members of the board come from families whose ancestries go back to the very beginnings of Kennett Square.

About the Author

Chris Barber is the zone editor of the Avon Grove Sun. She is a lifelong resident of Kennett Square and a graduate of Unionville High School and Carleton College majoring in religion and minoring in astronomy. She is the founder of the Kennett Area YMCA. Reach the author at cbarber@21st-centurymedia.com
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